When Words Lose Their Meaning: Constitutions and Reconstitutions of Language, Character, and CommunityUniversity of Chicago Press, 2012 M12 21 - 394 pages Through fresh readings of texts ranging from Homer's Iliad, Swift's Tale of a Tub, and Austen's Emma through the United States Constitution and McCulloch v. Maryland, James Boyd White examines the relationship between an individual mind and its language and culture as well as the "textual community" established between writer and audience. These striking textual analyses develop a rhetoric—a "way of reading" that can be brought to any text but that, in broader terms, becomes a way of learning that can shape the reader's life. "In this ambitious and demanding work of literary criticism, James Boyd White seeks to communicate 'a sense of reading in a new and different way.' . . . [White's] marriage of lawyerly acumen and classically trained literary sensibility—equally evident in his earlier work, The Legal Imagination—gives the best parts of When Words Lose Their Meaning a gravity and moral earnestness rare in the pages of contemporary literary criticism."—Roger Kimball, American Scholar "James Boyd White makes a state-of-the-art attempt to enrich legal theory with the insights of modern literary theory. Of its kind, it is a singular and standout achievement. . . . [White's] selections span the whole range of legal, literary, and political offerings, and his writing evidences a sustained and intimate experience with these texts. Writing with natural elegance, White manages to be insightful and inciteful. Throughout, his timely book is energized by an urgent love of literature and law and their liberating potential. His passion and sincerity are palpable."—Allan C. Hutchinson, Yale Law Journal "Undeniably a unique and significant work. . . . When Words Lose Their Meaning is a rewarding book by a distinguished legal scholar. It is a showcase for the most interesting sort of inter-disciplinary work: the kind that brings together from traditionally separate fields not so much information as ideas and approaches."—R. B. Kershner, Jr., Georgia Review |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 62
Page xii
... one's professional life requires attention also to the culture in which we live , which has formed us and which we form . The question , " What can these texts mean to us ? " is an essential part of reading them , and it can be answered ...
... one's professional life requires attention also to the culture in which we live , which has formed us and which we form . The question , " What can these texts mean to us ? " is an essential part of reading them , and it can be answered ...
Page 4
... one's language and judgment and feelings against the pressures of a world that works in different ways , for one is in some measure the prod- uct of that world . An alteration in language of the kind I mean is not merely a lexical event ...
... one's language and judgment and feelings against the pressures of a world that works in different ways , for one is in some measure the prod- uct of that world . An alteration in language of the kind I mean is not merely a lexical event ...
Page 5
... one's own composition , and with other people . The rest of this chapter will present a general account of this way of reading , but I should say now that this can only be an introduction , perhaps something of a guidebook , to what ...
... one's own composition , and with other people . The rest of this chapter will present a general account of this way of reading , but I should say now that this can only be an introduction , perhaps something of a guidebook , to what ...
Page 7
... one's language seems a perfect vehicle for speech and action ; it can be used almost automatically to say or to do what one wishes . But at other times a speaker may find that he no longer has a language adequate to his needs and ...
... one's language seems a perfect vehicle for speech and action ; it can be used almost automatically to say or to do what one wishes . But at other times a speaker may find that he no longer has a language adequate to his needs and ...
Page 8
... one's language but how one can learn from it and , in the process , reconstitute one's character and one's life . These are questions not only for actors within these texts but for the writers of them as well . How , for example , can ...
... one's language but how one can learn from it and , in the process , reconstitute one's character and one's life . These are questions not only for actors within these texts but for the writers of them as well . How , for example , can ...
Contents
3 | |
24 | |
Thucydides History of His World | 59 |
Platos Gorgias | 93 |
Swifts A Tale of a Tub | 114 |
Johnsons Rambler Essays | 138 |
The Language of Friendship in Jane Austens Emma | 163 |
The Constitution of Language and Community in Burkes Reflections | 192 |
The Possibilities of American Law | 231 |
10 An Afterword | 275 |
Bibliographies and Notes | 286 |
Index | 363 |
Other editions - View all
When Words Lose Their Meaning: Constitutions and Reconstitutions of Language ... James Boyd White No preview available - 1985 |
Common terms and phrases
Achaeans Achilles Agamemnon agathon aischron Athenians Athens authority become British Constitution Burke Burke's called Callicles Camarina central character Chryses claim conversation Corcyra Corcyrean Corinth course creates criticism culture of argument defined dialectic dialogue Diodotus discourse Emma Emma's Epidamnus equality essays establish example experience fact feeling force Frank Churchill friendship give Gorgias Greek guage Harriet heroic Homer human Iliad imagine Jane Austen Johnson judge judgment justice kakon kind Knightley language Marshall meaning Melian dialogue Melians ment mind moral Mytilene nature Number object Odysseus offers one's Patroclus perhaps Pericles persuade Plato poem political Polus Priam principle question Rambler reading reason reconstitution relation response rhetoric Samuel Johnson sense social Socrates Sparta speak speaker speech statement Swift talk teach things thought Thucydides tion truth ture understanding University Press voice words writing